In forming a power distribution system it is necessary to provide means for a hot line carrying power to the required load and a return line to the power source. A plurality of interconnections are typically required on a power distribution system for an integrated circuit logic system. There are connections between the power supply and bus bar, bus bar and a mother board, mother board and the daughter board, and connections between the daughter board and the socket in which chips are usually mounted and a connection between the socket and an actual integrated circuit. For each point of interconnection in the line going from the hot terminal to the load there is another point of interconnection to complete the return line of the circuit. Furthermore, in many integrated circuit systems there can be no more than 250 millivolts of drop in the voltage at each load. In addition, some logic systems require multiple voltage power distribution systems. These systems, therefore, require electrical connectors or contacts that will minimize voltage drops as the load is placed on the system.
To help increase the operating speed, power distribution systems are often designed to use a laminated bus-bar wherein the hot and return conductors are placed in close proximity separated by a thin insulative layer. One problem associated with laminated bus bars, however, is the inability to use standard two sided receptacle contacts to interconnect the laminated bus bar with another or to terminate to the laminated bus bar since a standard contact will electrically short the outer most conductive layers of the bus bar. Typically interconnections to laminated bus bars are made by providing the bus bar layers with tabs that extend outwardly from the various layers to which a wire or contact may be bolted to one voltage or layer. Since the wide bus bars are good conductors of heat as well as electricity, it is extremely difficult to achieve effective connections to the bus bar by soldering techniques. It is desirable to have a separate means for connecting to the laminated bus bar system that retains the "pluggability" of the system.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/451,471, the parent of the present application, discloses an electrical connector for mating two blade-shaped members that includes a dielectric spacer member having first and second terminal elements secured to opposing major surfaces thereof, the first terminal element being adjacent the spacer member and the second terminal element disposed outwardly of and insulated from the first terminal element. Each terminal element includes an array of cantilevered spring contact arms extending outwardly from each of two opposed leading and trailing edges of a body section, and respective pairs of arrays define first and second blade-receiving receptacles therebetween, the arrays of the first and second terminal elements being essentially coplanar and forming extended blade receiving receptacles at leading and trailing edges thereof. Upon mating of the connector with blade like members, the arrays of contact arms engage respective sides of the members at a plurality of locations and establish a plurality of current paths therebetween, with the current paths established through the first terminal elements being electrically isolated from the current paths established through the second terminal element. The connector of Ser. No. 07/451,471, therefore, has two isolated sets of current paths.